I don't own Designated Survivor.
Emily let the final notes of song drift off into the quiet air until she released her fingers from the keys, heaving a heavy sigh as she reached up to tuck an escaped strand of hair behind her ear, revealing a figure in the doorway.
"Aaron," she breathed, but almost no sound came out of her lips. He was leaning against the door frame, his expression and entire demeanor looking almost as defeated as she felt. She met his gaze sadly, her tongue heavy in her mouth from the drinks she had downed earlier with Seth, her mind empty (or maybe too full) of the roller coaster of emotions she had gone through in the past week.
"That was lovely," He told her softly, his hands tucked neatly inside his pockets. She said nothing, her eyes searching his stance, catching on the rare sight of his loosened tie, the downturn of his lips, the way his body seemed slumped, abandoned by the usual sureness and authority that held him upright since the day she'd met him. Now he lingered in the doorway, his feet planted at the edge of the carpet, but his body seemed to lean forward, yearning to enter the room.
Then, she realized that the reason he wasn't moving was because he was waiting for her permission to enter the room. Without a second thought, she shifted over on the piano bench and wordlessly patted the spot next to her. Looking relieved, Aaron lifted himself off the doorway and joined her on the bench, facing away from the piano so their faces were lined up, their somber expressions mirroring each other.
"I don't know who I can depend on anymore." She said flatly, unwilling to let emotion cloud her voice once more.
"I'm locked out of the White House secure server," Aaron confessed, "and I'm sure it's not by mistake." But his tone was not accusatory. No anger or frustration. Just a blank voice as if he was reporting that he had misplaced his coffee mug.
Despite everything, Emily's head whipped around in shock and slight outrage, "How is that possible-?" But she caught herself and pursed her lips.
"It looks like I'm about to get replaced by you." He said simply.
"Oh, Aaron," Emily sighed sadly, "You know this isn't what I wanted." her voice trembled slightly, "I never could have imagined that this would go down-," but before she could finish, he put a soft hand on top of hers.
"Emily, I want you to know-no, I need you to know that no matter where I am, you can always depend on me." Aaron told her with a sort of quiet urgency that surprised her, and when she looked into his eyes, she saw raw emotion and concern that made her breath catch in her throat. Her hand turned under his almost as if on its own volition to clasp his fingers tightly in hers, reassuring herself that he was there, it was all real.
"Em, do you trust me?" He said softly, not breaking their gaze.
Emily opened her mouth, no words coming out at first, "I want to." She whispered almost pleadingly, as if begging him to show her some sort of concrete evidence, airtight proof or excuse as to why he most certainly wasn't a traitor. Something along the lines that he had been forced at gunpoint in his office to make the call, or that someone had stolen his identity in a ruse to falsely accuse him of collaborating with the terrorists.
Aaron leaned forward, his fingers brushing lightly against the side of her face as he traced his hand lightly along her face, tucking her hair behind her ears. "Please," he whispered, his breath tickling her fluttering eyelashes and Emily gasped, willing her pounding heart to slow down. Aaron Shore was not the begging type. In fact, she had never really heard him utter the "p" word to someone who wasn't ranked Vice President or higher. But here he was, his eyes searching hers in the most vulnerable state she had ever seen him in. He had to be one of the good guys. Never had she seen anyone fight so hard for Kirkman (other than herself) and dive into his work of serving his country, government and president with so much vigor and determination, daring to contradict the VP as he was acting in place of Kirkman. No bad guy would ever be able to look at her as tenderly as Aaron Shore was looking at her now. That was just something you couldn't fake. And well, if she was still wrong after all of that, then give this son of a bitch an Oscar.
When she still hadn't said anything, Aaron began to pull away, the sadness creeping back over the earnestness in his expression, but Emily wouldn't allow that. Her fingers came up quickly, framing his face, tracing down his jawline as she brought her lips to his. When they pulled apart, he looked stunned and honestly, Emily was pretty surprised herself by her own actions. Her fingers found his again in his lap and she watched as his eyes traveled down to see their fingers lace together in his lap. She waited until his gaze returned to her face before speaking.
"Tell me," She said simply because that's when she knew. They needed each other. That's why it had hurt them so much that Kirkman had only Emily conduct the vetting. It had placed them on opposite sides, unable to communicate with one another, to seek each other's opinions and support. In their time together at the White House, they had grown so dependent on each other, always able to share information and projects. Perhaps the first hint of that was the first time Emily had been shut out of Command Ops and Aaron had found her shortly after to apologize and ease the tension and stress between them.
"I don't know where I'm going to end up after tonight. It's clear the President no longer trusts me like he used to. With everything that's been going on- the shooting, Atwood's confession, maybe it's time for POTUS to re-evaluate things."
"Aaron, the President needs you," Emily said with conviction. He chuckled lightly at her compliment his eyes falling back down to their clasped hands as he turned it thoughtfully I his lap, thumb stroking gentle circles on the back of Emily's hand.
"What I need you to know, is that kiss- and yes, I am going to be weird about it," He gave another low chuckle at their old joke, "and my feelings…for you," Aaron raised his eyes to meet hers again and Emily realized that she was holding her breath, "they're real. I know a lot of things are uncertain right now, but I need you to know that em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"this/em is certain." His lips had become a breath away from hers again and Emily drew a steadying breath, her mind bogged down with the smell of his cologne, hair gel and the overwhelming scent of him. She thought of all those moments they had shared in the past months, the electricity between them, the tension.
"Em," His eyes here locked on her lips but he was still waiting for her permission.
"Kiss me," She breathed, "Just kiss me." And she wasn't sure who made the first move but then their lips were colliding, their hands roaming all over each other hungrily; Emily's clutched in the lapels of his suit and Aaron steadying her against him with one hand weaved into her hair, the other running down the curve of her waist.
This kiss was so much different than their first exploratory, sweet exchange. No, this kiss was all about need, their desire to communicate to each other what they couldn't put into words. Emily broke away first to catch her breath, leaning her forehead against Aaron's as his lips tried to follow hers as she broke contact.
"What?" He sounded breathless as he opened his eyes and Emily was swept into the deep pools of chocolate brown again, a smug feeling working its way up to her head as she reveled in the fact that she was finally the reason to make him breathless like that.
"This isn't right." She told him and watched his expression plummet. Before he could pull away from her, she pulled her legs from under the piano and swung them around so that she was straddling his lap (a difficult and impressive feat given the constraints of her pencil skirt). "There," She declared, smiling down at his pleasantly surprised expression, her fingers tracing his hairline before burying themselves in his curls. Aaron closed his eyes at her touch, noticeably suppressing a shiver but before Emily could savor in her victory of gaining the upper hand, Aaron's arm shot out to wrap around her waist, pulling her flush against him while his free hand closed around her chin to guide her lips back down to his. She could feel his smile under her mouth as he murmured.
"You're going to be the death of me, Emily Rhodes."
"Mmm," was all she could respond with because his mouth was working magic all over her skin, tracing the underside of her jaw, leaving open mouthed kisses down her throat before paving a path back up to her lips. Her fingers combed through his hair before tracing down his neck, around his shoulders to come to rest on his check, under his jacket and right above his heart which was beating wildly, matching the same pounding rhythm as hers. Aaron's lips captured hers again and he was kissing her with so much conviction that Emily knew the past few weeks of flirting had been sincere, all leading up to this and not just a front to cover up any-
No, Emily thought to herself firmly, stopping her thoughts before they could wander down that dark path again. But apparently, her thoughts had had also commanded the rest of her body as she froze on Aaron's lap, abruptly pulling away from him.
"Emily?" He pulled away to look her in the eyes, the same concerned look invading his handsome features again. Some of his curls had come loose from the gel, courtesy of her fingers and lips were slightly swollen, shirt rumpled by her roaming hands.
"Em, is everything okay?"
Emily gave him a small smile, taking his face in her hands and giving him a slow, sweet kiss. She pulled back, her hands still framing his face as she tried to memorize the sight of him in this less-than-tidy, breathless state. If Aaron Shore was already sexy in his normal pulled-together state, this was pushing the boundaries of a whole other level of attractiveness. Maybe in another parallel universe, this could have been the sight she was going home to every night. What she wouldn't give to see what he looked like in the morning, curls free, stubble speckling his jaw, sunlight falling across their bedspread, nudging them awake with their limbs lazily tangled in each other…
Aaron brought a hand up to her wrist, his eyes searching hers, "talk to me, Emily." He whispered before bringing her hand from his cheek to his lips, dropping a gentle kiss to her open palm, the gesture bringing tears to her eyes.
Then her phone was buzzing, or maybe it had been buzzing before, they had just been so caught up in each other that they hadn't realized. 2
Aaron smirked, "Duty calls." He said, but his tone wasn't teasing enough, his sad eyes not matching the playful smile on his face. Their stolen moment was over. Emily carefully removed herself from Aaron's lap, his hand on the small of her back to steady her. She took her phone from the top of the piano and turned to look at Aaron one last time.
"I don't know where I'm going to end up after tonight.
Unbidden, a tear escaped from her eye but Aaron reached out and swiftly caught it with his thumb. He rolled the droplet of moisture between his forefinger and thumb, almost as if he just wanted to absorb Emily's tears into himself, and eliminate all her sadness and pain from her life. But what did she really know about Aaron Shore?
Wordlessly, she turned and walked out of the room, leaving him standing alone next to the piano.
Follow up to the hours after to come soon! Leave reviews & prompts